McIlroy responds to Gooch's asterisk jibe
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland speaks to members of the media in a pre-event press conference during practice round 2 at Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Rory McIlroy responded with a facetious, “Who knows?” when asked about his former agent’s claim that there was a “10 pc” chance he’d sign for LIV Golf.
But he gave Talor Gooch the benefit of the doubt over his claim that he’d need an asterisk beside his name if he won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, even if he did subtly filleted LIV’s 2023 individual champion with the kind of sharpness he’ll need at Augusta in April.
"If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there's just going to be an asterisk,” the American told Australian Golf Digest as the Masters handed LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann one of three special invitations but left him out.
“It's just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there."
McIlroy, who joins Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington in the Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches (formerly the Honda Classic) for the first time since 2018, used kid gloves on Gooch before silently slipping a blade under his ribcage.
On the asterisk claim, he said: “Look, the Masters is an Invitational and they'll invite whoever they think warrants an invite. I think to be fair to Talor, if you read the entire -- the question and then the answer, it's not as if he just came out with that.
“I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit. He just agreed with what the interviewer asked.
“At the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invite and I played with him a few weeks ago in Dubai, and he went down to Australia and won.
“He was in Oman last week. He has been chasing his tail around the world to get this, play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite.”
Then he icily added: “I don't know if the same can be said for Talor.”
As for reports that he’s considering a move to LIV Golf based on his comments yesterday, it appears clear they were tongue in cheek given his desire to reunify the game. After all, he has said he’d “rather retire” than go there even if he is disillusioned by the PGA Tour’s handling of the affair.
Asked about speculation by his ex-manager, Chubby Chandler that his softened stance at LIV Golf was a hint he might make the jump — estimated by Chandler at 10pc — he smiled and said: “I think he's writing a book, so there is that. I spoke to Chubby; might have seen him in the Middle East at the start of the year. Never know. He might know a few things. Who knows.”
So was Chandler’s guess that it was a 10pc chance a reasonable guess?
“Somewhere in the middle maybe,” McIlroy said. “Who knows.”
McIlroy later spoke to Golf Channel and reunifying the game not causing more disruption with LIV appears to be his only goal.
“I think there's going to have to be a lot of patience on both sides to sort of try to come to some resolution,” he said. “I think it would be the best for the game if we all came back together
“The longer you go with not all the best players competing against each other regularly, I just think the fans lose out and interest in the game probably wanes a little bit and that's no good for anyone. So the faster that we can all get back together, I think it's for the best for the game.”
LIV Golf appears to have blown any credibility it might have built up by signing Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton by enticing former US Ryder Cup star Anthony Kim (38) out of his 12-year retirement with a season-long individual wildcard, starting in Jeddah tomorrow.
“I’ve been putting in some work and I’m ready to go,” Kim said. “I’m 38 now, so I don’t know quite a few of the guys, but I’m here to bust everyone’s ass.”
McIlroy is happy to leave the ass-busting until Augusta and with the Masters still six weeks, he said he won’t start thinking about it until after The Players.
As for Lowry, who is hopeful of an invitation for next week’s Signature event at Bay Hill, it’s Masters sharpness he seeks as Harrington chases a third win in the event and another trip down Magnolia Lane,
Elsewhere, Tom McKibbin returns to action in South Africa alongside Richie O’Donovan in the DP World Tour’s SDC Championship in Eastern Cape while Leona Maguire tees it up in the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa in Singapore.
European Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen, meanwhile, yesterday added Maguire’s former Solheim Cup partner Mel Reid to her backroom team alongside Anna Nordqvist, Laura Davies and Caroline Martens for September’s match in the US.
